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Derek Shepherd
'''Dr. Derek Shepherd, M.D., '''was an Attending Neurosurgeon and Board Director at Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital until his death. Derek was highly valued at the hospital and worked on the Brain Mapping project. He became Acting Chief of Surgery until he stepped down and was well known for giving what were considered "hopeless cases" another chance. Derek was the husband of Meredith Grey, and they had three children together. Biography Early Life Derek was one of five children born to Mr Shepherd and his wife, Carolyn Shepherd. He had four sisters, one of whom was younger. He grew up in New York. In around 1988 or 1989, Derek and Amelia Shepherd were with their father in the shop he owned. They watched as two robbers demanded that their father give him his watch. However, Mr Shepherd knew that his wife had saved up to purchase him the watch and he refused. He was then shot to death in front of his children, who were hiding in the closet. The event was life-changing for Derek, as it formed a large part of his moral compass. In high school, he was in a band where he played the saxophone and guitar. His childhood best friend was Mark Sloan, who became like a second son for the Shepherd family. At some point, Derek received a scar on his forehead from a motorcycle accident. Education Derek attended Bowdoin College in Maine to achieve his undergraduate degree. He then became a student of Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons with Mark. It was there that he met Addison Montgomery. He was taught by Richard Webber at some point during his medical education. First Marriage Derek eventually married Addison Montgomery in 1994. His best man was Mark Sloan. He then worked at a private practice in New York. However, Derek and Addison's marriage became increasingly strained as Derek distanced himself from her. She eventually cheated on him with Mark. Derek had come home early when he found them in bed together. Leaving New York Derek decided to leave his private practice and accepted an offer from Richard Webber to work for him at Seattle Grace Hospital. Richard persuaded him by telling him there was a chance he could become the next Chief of Surgery when he retired. Derek then became Head of Neurosurgery at the hospital. He departed New York without speaking to Addison about their marriage. His sudden move was a talking point for his fellow doctors, as he had a respected practice in New York. Meeting Meredith Following his departure from New York, it was not long before Derek went to a bar where he met Meredith Grey. They never revealed their names or workplace to each other and the two slept together before parting ways the next day. However, Meredith was a new intern at the hospital and they were both surprised when they were reunited at work. Derek had immediately asked Meredith for another date but she declined as he was her boss. Relationship with Meredith In time, Meredith and Derek started a relationship which they kept secret for a while. When knowledge of their relationship became known, they started dating formally. The relationship was complicated by the arrival of Addison, who was seeking to repair her broken marriage with Derek. Meredith was upset at Derek as he had not told her that he was married, and he and Addison decided to try to repair their marriage. However, he and Addison continued to have a strained relationship further complicated by the arrival of Mark Sloan. Despite their best efforts, Derek and Addison agreed to divorce when she found out he had slept with Meredith again. Meredith and Derek started dating again when she picked him instead of her then boyfriend. However, in time, Derek started to feel that Meredith was taking him for granted and they broke up again. They continued to have sex in an on call room and despite her admission that she wants him, Derek knew that he wanted it more than her and he started dating a nurse, Rose. Their relationship is further strained by a clinical trial they both work on for brain tumours, in which twelve people died. Derek noticed that he was the only one who cared when a patient died, and he decided they were over as partners, friends and colleagues. Meredith eventually made a grand gesture that proved that she was ready for a proper relationship with Derek and they reunite. They later moved in together, and Derek proposed to her. They planned a wedding, which they gave to Izzie Stevens and Alex Karev due to her decreasing health. They later married in ceremony which was not legally binding, and wrote their vows on post-it notes. Chief of Surgery Service Derek eventually achieved his dream of becoming Chief of Surgery when Richard Webber made him Acting Chief while he received treatment for alcoholism. Derek proved an adept and popular Chief of Surgery, though he found the paperwork dreary. He was unhappy with performing less surgery than he thought he would and considered resigning, which he went through with following the shooting at the hospital. He gave the role back to Richard Webber, who had returned to the hospital. Shooting In his final days as Acting Chief of Surgery, Derek had worked on the case of Alison Clark. Alison had to be put on life support following complications from a surgery. Her husband, Gary Clark, had wanted her to be kept on life support. However, Alison had signed forms three years prior asking for life support to be unplugged in such a case that her survival was dependent on machines. Derek made the choice that Alison's life support would be stopped, even though Gary was unhappy with the decision. Gary filed a lawsuit against Derek Shepherd, who was the leading surgeon on the case of his wife. He blamed Derek for Alison's death, but Derek told Gary that there was no hope for Alison's survival, and that the hospital had acted in accordance with her advanced directive. Gary then decided to purchase a gun and kill the people he considered responsible. He arrived at the hospital and started his search for Derek Shepherd. He was ignored several times before he found Reed Adamson. She became his first victim in his killing spree as he continued to search for Derek. Having killed eleven people and injured eight, he found Derek on the bridge. Derek pleaded with Gary, who nearly lowered his gun until they were interrupted by April Kepner. Gary then shot Derek and left the scene. The shooting caused Meredith to miscarry their baby, as Cristina Yang worked to save Derek's life. The surgery was interrupted by Gary, who proceeded to threaten the doctors in the room until they agreed to let Derek die. Cristina and Jackson Avery faked Derek's death until Gary left the room, and then continued to work to save his life. Derek struggled to cope with the traumatic experience and started speeding, which led to several arrests. He resigned as Chief of Surgery, which he told psychologist Andrew Perkins was from the courage the shooting gave him to step down. He stopped speeding when Meredith told him about her miscarriage. Alzheimer's Trail and Adoption Derek decided to start a medical trial to find a cure for alzheimer's, as he was inspired by his mother-in-law, Ellis Grey. He picked Alex to work with him until he realised that he found the work depressing. Derek then asked Meredith to work with him instead. Having formed a bond with an orphaned child, Zola, he asked Meredith whether they could adopt her. Meredith and Derek had wanted to try for another child, but they were struggling. Meredith agreed to the idea, and they start proceedings to adopt Zola, starting with getting legally married at City Hall. However, Meredith had meddled with the trial in an effort to help a patient receive the active agent instead of the placebo. She tainted the trial, and when Alex revealed the fact to the new Chief of Surgery, Owen Hunt, Derek was dismayed when he found out the truth, and he was blacklisted by the FDA. They started sleeping separately for a while, until they reconciled. Their brief separation became known to the adoption agency, who removed Zola from the care of Meredith. They were devastated at losing Zola, and Derek became worried about Meredith because she refused to think about adopting another child. Thanks to the help of their friends, Zola was returned to them. Around the same time, Lexie Grey started to take a keen interest in neurosurgery. Derek took Lexie under his wing and they would often work together on cases. Plane Crash and Recovery Derek was one of the six doctors who were travelling to Idaho to separate cojoined twins when the plane crashed in the woods. Derek woke up with his hand stuck in part of the plane, severely injured with many broken bones. He had to break his hand further in order to retrieve it. He was later found by Meredith and Cristina, who stitched up hand to prevent increasing blood loss. He and the surviving doctors were stuck in the woods for four days until they were rescued. Derek was worried by the news that his hand had nerve damage and tried to tell the doctors at the hospital that he was a surgeon and would need the hand to continue operating. He had a small amount of function in his hand, which prevented him from performing surgeries. He spent his time teaching residents. The hand was fixed by Callie Torres and Derek eventually returned to work. Board Director Mark Sloan, who was Derek's best friend since childhood, was on life support, and became the second person to die from the plane crash. Derek was by his side as the life support machine was shut down after thirty days of inactivity. Derek and the rest of the survivors, decided to sue the hospital for negligence and he received $15 million. The hospital declared bankruptcy as a result and along with the investment of Richard Webber and the Harper Avery Foundation, he became one of the doctors to purchase the hospital and as a result, he became one of the board directors. He had a say in the running of the hospital and agreed to the renaming of the hospital as Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital. He and Meredith were later delighted when she became pregnant with their child, and she later gave birth to their son, Derek Bailey Shepherd. Brain Mapping Project Derek started working with Callie to create robotic limbs that would move through their connection to mind control. He developed special sensors that needed to be inserted into the skull. He impressed the President who was seeking the sensors for a brain mapping project. Derek refused to give up the rights as he thought they were approaching their project in the wrong way and set them in the right direction. The President then called Derek and asked him to join the project. Derek accepted the offer despite promising Meredith he would take a step back and care for the children to give her time to shine. Meredith was upset that he broke his promise. As the workload increased, Derek was happy when his younger sister Amelia took over his former role as Head of Neurosurgery, which meant he could continuing brain mapping and have another person to take care of the children. The President later met with Derek and he was very impressed by him. He wanted Derek to meet with him weekly and offered him a permanent job at the NIH. He also secured Meredith an attending position at James Matheson Hospital. Meredith wanted to join Derek but her heart belonged in Seattle. She told Derek that she could not join him as she never wanted to become a spouse that follows like her father was to her mother. Derek decided to turn down the job which strained their marriage. Derek resented the fact that she had prevented him from working in his dream role and they would only speak to each other when it regarded Maggie Pierce. He took Amelia's case instead of defending her against the patient who were unhappy with Amelia's past drug abuse, and later admitted to her that he had lost himself. He later admitted the reason to Meredith and she pointed out that she never asked him to stay. He told her that the move to D.C. was still an option and she called and accepted the job for him. They agreed to make their long distance relationship work. Death Derek later returned home for a short trip where he suggested to Meredith the idea of having another child, to which she agreed. The next day, Derek was on his way to the airport for a final trip to D.C. when he saw a car crash on a remote road. He saved the lives of four people and stayed with them until emergency services arrived. He then returned to his car and started to turn the car around when his phone rang. He stopped the car sideways and reached for the phone. His car was hit by an approaching semi and he was taken to hospital. As doctors stared examining him, he came up with the correct treatment plan for him in his mind. He was unable to speak, and therefore communicate to the doctors. He begged them in his mind to give him a head CT. As they continued to make the wrong decisions, Derek knew that it was too late for him. He was rushed to the OR, but by the time the doctors realised what was wrong with him and brought in a neurosurgeon, who took an hour to respond to the paging, Derek was pronounced brain dead. Meredith arrived at the hospital shortly after, and knowing there was no hope for him, signed the paper to shut down life support. As the doctors prepared to shut down the life support, she called for Derek to wake up. The life support was then stopped, and Meredith told him that he could go. He took his last breath, and passed away. Nine months after his death, Derek received his wish for another child, as Meredith gave birth to their daughter, Ellis Shepherd. His legacy continues to have an impact at Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital, and in the lives of his family and friends. Career Derek was regarded as one of the best neurosurgeons in the world and highly commended for his efforts to give hopeless cases a chance. He was given the nickname "tumour junkie" for performing many complicated and risky procedures, as he would be inspired by a complicated case rather than defeated. He was a highly competent and skilled surgeon with great compassion for his patients. He had his own private practice in New York which was very well known and respected in the medical world. He was later made Head of Neurosurgery at Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital. He was offered the chance to become Chief of Surgery, and he refused. His confidence was knocked by three events. He lost part of his confidence when his surgery to repair a gunshot injury of a colleague, Preston Burke, led to him developing a tremor in his hand. He later surprisingly clipped an aneurysm on a pregnant woman in surgery that led to her death. He became depressed by his failure. His confidence was then knocked again when he realised that a lot of his patients had died in comparison to the number of his surviving patients. Meredith later pointed out the reason. Derek took on cases in which he was the last hope, as the rest of the surgeons involved had refused to operate. Derek remained highly thought of and was made later Acting Chief of Surgery. He faced a lawsuit when a patient was taken off life support, even though Derek had acted in accordance with the wishes of his patient. Derek was unhappy being Acting Chief because he preferred working in the OR instead of administration, and he resigned following a tenure of about a year. His services gained the hospital an impressive two million dollars worth of annual revenue. He was well loved by his patients and had impressed many people, many of whom would personally seek him out for his opinion and help. He later won the prestigious Phillip's Grant. Derek was the lead surgeon for two known clinical trials. He worked with Meredith to inject a live virus into a brain tumour and he published his work under the name of "The Shepherd Method". The second trial was the development of a cure for alzheimer's, which he funded with Phillip's Grant. The trial was going well until Meredith meddled with the given treatment for a patient, and the trial was shut down, and Derek was blacklisted by the FDA. In the time Derek was in recovery from injuries to his hand in the plane crash, Derek taught residents and consulted with cases. He recovered and returned to work and started work on another trial with Callie. He built brain sensors for better prosthetic limbs which impressed the President who wanted the work for his brain mapping project. He later asked Derek to lead the trial and he eventually accepted the offer. Personality Derek was a very compassionate person and well loved by patients, family and friends. He had a strong moral compass and was willing to help give people another chance at survival. He was humble about his achievements and enjoyed living a simpler life, and took in an interest in nature, particularly fishing. He preferred quieter environments and loved escaping to the O.R. for surgery. He came from a very nurturing and supportive family, and enjoyed their company, in stark contrast to Meredith. He encouraged her to accept her half sisters into her life, as he understood the value of their importance. He was estranged from his younger sister, Amelia for a while because of her lifestyle, although they later reconciled. However, Derek could be unkind towards people who he found undeserving of better treatment, probably due to the nature of the death of his father. Derek was the kind of person who believed there was a right way to do things. He had high standards at work and would yell at interns and residents when they failed to meet such standards. Despite this, he was also loved by them for his approach to learning and would allow them proper experience in surgery, provided they earned it rather than fought each other for the opportunity. Derek had the tendency to brood and refuse to talk about certain situations, such as the breakdown of his marriage. He would drown in his sorrows, particularly when he failed at a task or in an effort to cope with stress. He could snap and say the wrong thing but he was also forgiving, as evident by his friendship with Addison and Mark despite their affair. He was given the popular nickname "McDreamy" at work for his good looks and kind manner. He portrayed the role of the charming handsome man that appealed to women, as well as a heartbreaker. Derek is best described as appearing to be two people, "warm and funny one minute and then cold and self-involved in the next". However, they were two sides of the same person and despite his shortcomings, people continued to root for him.Review of Derek's Character Notable Relationships Meredith Grey Addison Forbes Montgomery Mark Sloan Amelia Shepherd Carolyn Shepherd Nancy Shepherd Children Lexie Grey Rose Richard Webber Callie Torres Sydney Heron Trivia * When Derek moved away from New York, he lived in a trailer which was placed on land that he had purchased. He gave the trailer to Alex Karev when he moved in with Meredith. Owen Hunt lived in the trailer from 2011 until his marriage to Amelia. As of 2017, he lived in the trailer again when his marriage was falling apart. Notable Episode List References Category:Characters Category:Doctors Category:Neurosurgeons Category:Attendings